How to Sync OneNote to Your OneDrive Account

Take your notes everywhere you go

How to sync OneNote with multiple devices and online

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by Christina Wood
Christina Wood has been covering technology for over a decade. She has contributed to Family Circle, PC World, PC Magazine, CIO, Yahoo and many other publications.
Updated July 09, 2019

Have you been using OneNote 2019 and want to sync your notebooks to create a OneNote backup online? You can use OneDrive to achieve just that. One of the great things about storing your notebooks on OneDrive is you can access them from whatever device you have handy. Here's how to sync OneNote with OneDrive on Windows 10.

Why Sync OneNote With OneDrive?

Once your notebooks are online, you can install the OneNote app on your phone or tablet to access them from just about any device you might have, be it Windows, Android, or iOS.

When you log into your OneNote account with your phone, all the notes you took on your computer will be right there. There's also an online version of OneNote, so you don't need to have any software installed on your device to access your notes.

And when you take notes on your phone. Those notes will be waiting for you when you open OneNote on your computer.

How to Sync OneNote with OneDrive

Because of the way OneNote works, you should always use the OneNote app to do this. Moving the files with a file manager will cause syncing problems that will be terribly difficult to unsnarl.

  1. Open the OneNote notebook you created on your computer using OneNote.

    Open the notebook in OneNote

    Do not use the OneDrive app for this.

  2. Select Share. This will bring up a menu where you can share this notebook with others. But first you'll have to save it to OneDrive.

  3. Select OneDrive. If you're logged in to your OneDrive account, it should show up automatically.

    Choose your OneDrive location

  4. If you don't see the OneDrive location where you want your OneNote notebook to reside, select Add a Place > OneDrive or select the location you want to move this notebook to.

    Choose Add a Place to find or create your OneDrive

    If you choose OneDrive, you'll be prompted to sign in.

  5. Enter a name for your notebook or keep the one it already has.

    Name your notebook -- or leave the name it has

  6. Select Move Notebook. OneNote will save your notebook to your OneDrive online.

    Click the big Move Notebook button to save it online

  7. Now you can share your notebook with others so you can collaborate in real time in your notebook. Simply type their email address, include a note, and select Share.

    Type in an email address, add a note, and click Share

If you have a lot of OneNote notebooks you want to move online, you'll have to do so one at a time. While there are ways to sync them all at once, this is an advanced procedure, and simply moving them with a file manager can create syncing problems. The easiest way to handle this is to always save new notebooks to the cloud.